Why street chaplains are now patrolling Hanley in the day

Street chaplains have been a common sight on Hanley’s big nights for years. Now, amidst concerns about anti-social behaviour, homelessness, and drinking, they’re appearing in the day, as North Staffs project co-ordinator Stephen Russell explains to John Woodhouse

“The main issue to us,” explains Stephen Russell, “is homelessness, and people feeling vulnerable because of the presence of homeless people - whether that’s justified or not.

“Speaking to older people, they often said ‘I don’t come into Hanley much anymore because I don’t feel safe’. That’s understandable. When the weather is warm, they’re all out there, and sometimes they start shouting at each other.

“Some of them have a bit of a base camp by the blue clock. They can be there with dogs, and when they get a bit rude and offensive with each other it can be unsettling for passers-by. There are also issues arising from drug taking, especially Spice, this zombified type of narcotic.”

The street chaplain solution? “We give them a lollipop, have a chat with them, and slowly they start coming round.”

Lollipops And Flip-Flops – if a musical were to be made about street chaplains, that would surely be the title. The two items have been the mainstay of the service for years, one revealing a friendly face, the other to help unshod ladies make their way home.

“It’s an instinctive role where you’re there to help and support,” says Stephen. “It’s a point of contact for someone in need, someone who has had too much to drink, a woman who has lost her mobile, lost her friends.”

Night-time is the obvious point at which one would imagine street chaplains are at their most useful. Possibly true, but Hanley is an area with daytime issues too. That’s why, earlier this year, the city’s street chaplains, undertook a short trial to see if they could be of any use in daylight hours. The answer was a resounding ‘yes’, and so now the group, in conjunction with the YMCA, is seeking to roll out the service full-time.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

“We had meetings with the council,” Stephen explains. “They were talking about some of the issues that had afflicted Hanley – anti-social behaviour, rough sleeping – and were wondering where street chaplains could provide some help. That led to us being commissioned to deploy daytime teams. We had a pilot scheme in March and it went well. A few people were like ‘Who are you?’, but because we’d been out in the night-time economy, most people recognised who we were and that we were there to help. Generally speaking, it’s been very positive, and we’re keen to become more of daytime presence.”

Read More

In their orange high-viz jackets, street chaplains differ from other agencies who may be called to incidents in that they clearly don’t represent authority, making some more willing to engage.

“We’re not about law enforcement,” states Stephen. “It’s a pastoral face, just being visible. You put your high-viz jacket on and it gives you the confidence to go up and talk to folk, whereas if you were dressed normally you can’t just go up to someone and talk to them - they’d think you were weird. It breaks down the barriers – people will come up to us and talk to us.”

Street chaplain Stephen Russell is an angel in a high-vis jacket

Chaplains’ ability to engage with the homeless and those abusing alcohol or drugs is a priceless part of the ongoing process of making Hanley a better place to visit.

“Obviously,” notes Stephen, “homelessness is not a crime, but anti-social behaviour is. People can feel nervous in that kind of environment when they come out to the city centre.

“We can’t solve the homeless problem ourselves – that’s a multi-agency issue – but it’s clear to me, having spoken to the council, that there’s a real desire to focus on the needs of the city centre. The basic premise appears to be, ‘If we don’t get Hanley right, the city suffers’.”

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

The chaplains can help the city council work with businesses and the police to address ongoing situations.

“We had a communication from the police about Wilkinson’s,” reveals Stephen. “They’d had some issues around homeless folks camping in the doorway. We went to see the manager and made that link so that if an issue comes up they can call us and we can help sort it out.”

When chaplains asked passers-by what their main concerns were regards Hanley, homelessness was the issue that came out top.

Read More

“The vast majority said it needs to be addressed, both daytime and night-time,” says Stephen. “At present, there’s not a massive group of homeless folk, but there’s about 10 or 15 regulars who camp out, usually by where the old toilets are, or Trinity Street by the RBS.”

But finding answers is far from easy. “The difficulty is that some of them are not homeless. Some of them are genuine hardcore homeless and have been for two or three years minimum, others might be part of gangs where there’s an organised begging system going on. They’re dropped off in the city centre and then picked up at the end of the day – that’s what we’re hearing.

Street chaplains in Hanley

“Others have got homes to go to but rely on that group for their social world. They come out, spend the day with their mates outside Wetherspoon’s with a two litre bottle of white cider, and that for them is their world.

“They live their lives in the context of a world they feel comfortable with or can cope with. There are issues around mental health, drug and alcohol addiction, broken relationships, all sorts of issues.

“What the council wants is us to be the eyes and ears in the city centre, to help them and other agencies shape what they do. We’re in a good position to do that."

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Stoke-on-Trent has various bodies trying to stem the tide of homelessness. “I spoke to one homeless chap recently,” says Stephen, “and he told me he came from Manchester. I asked him why and he said, ‘It’s a nicer place than Manchester and there’s more help’. This is the flipside of the argument – the more services you provide, the more bed spaces, the more people will come. Does that accentuate the problem?”

Nevertheless, the city’s homelessness problems pale into insignificance compared to some other places. The problem is that Hanley’s relatively small size emphasises the issue.

Read More

“I was talking to a police officer recently who’d just returned from Oxford. He said it’s awash with homeless people. Bath is the same, Shrewsbury, Stafford. I think in terms of Stoke-on-Trent, and how much of a problem it is, I think we’re a four or five out of ten, compared to an Oxford or Bath which is eight or nine.

The Reverend Stephen Russell and Jim Halliday out on patrol

“Because Hanley city centre is the equivalent of a large town centre, it all gets focussed on Trinity Street, Fountain Square, and the Potteries Shopping Centre down to where Argos used to be. I don’t think it’s a major problem and with the right approach it can be addressed to a certain degree.”

The street chaplain approach will, though, require more volunteers, with the organisation relaxing rules to get more people involved.

“Historically, street chaplains has been a faith-based organisation - we’ve always recruited from churches - but about a year ago I said we need to widen the net, not to be as exclusive as people needing to be a churchgoer or a Christian.

Read More

“Instead, anyone who shares our vison to want to support the community and make a difference is fine. As long as they are comfortable with the ethos of what we’re trying to do, and share that vision, that’s OK.”

All volunteers have to be 18-plus. Many are significantly over that landmark. “We just had a couple retire who were in their early 80s,” reveals Stephen. “Most are 50-plus.”

The organisation has about 30 volunteers at the moment. To deliver its daytime programme six days a week, it will need another 30 more. “Volunteers are the gold dust – everything stands or falls on being able to recruit people.”

Read More

Volunteers are given free training before being kitted out for the role. Stephen, with a background in church leadership, has found it an invigorating experience. “It has given me the opportunity to engage with the community and meet all sorts of wonderful people,” he says.

Also a match day steward at Stoke City, he sees a parallel between the two roles – “You’re there to help people.”